The emergence of governance by numbers (GBN) has seen the increasing use of metrics to influence government and corporate behaviour, but its uptake varies significantly across international organisations. This study examines the adoption of GBN in global labour governance at the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Using a comparative institutional approach, we highlight the ILO's resistance to developing indicators of decent work and economic performance, despite support from the labour movement. Conversely, the OECD has fully embraced GBN through labour market performance measurements, which makes some of its normative proposals less visible due to their qualitative nature. We conclude that the adoption of GBN is not inevitable and depends on the organisational cultures and structures of international organisations.
Policy Implications
- Labour governance is shifting from traditional, law-based regulation to governance by numbers, where metrics are used to guide the behaviour of companies and states. This approach influences how international organisations address labour issues, but its uneven adoption raises questions about its causes and implications.
- A comparative analysis of the ILO and OECD shows that the adoption of governance by numbers depends on each organisation’s culture and structure. While some view it as a tool for advocacy, others reject it due to concerns about standardisation, fairness, and its potential alignment with neoliberal principles.
- Despite labour unions supporting the development of decent work indicators, the ILO prioritises normative principles over quantifiable benchmarks. Its tripartite structure (governments, employers, and workers) complicates the adoption of universal performance indicators to assess countries.
- The OECD extensively uses labour market indicators for policy advice, rankings, and benchmarking, shaping global labour governance through performance-based comparisons. However, this emphasis on quantification often sidelines the OECD’s normative proposals.
- Based on this comparative analysis, the article argues that numbers are institutionally embedded and take on different meanings based on the context in which they are adopted. Governance by numbers can either support the expansion of labour rights and decent work or restrict them, depending on how international organisations implement and interpret them.
Photo by Yury Kim